


Apartment 6A

by AggressivelyBisexual



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, BAMF Eggsy, Civilian Eggsy Unwin, Gen, Gymnastics, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Misunderstandings, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-08 23:19:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7777588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AggressivelyBisexual/pseuds/AggressivelyBisexual
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The seemingly empty flat next door to Eggsy's suddenly gets a new visiter, and now he understands why they say curiosity killed the cat. Misunderstandings ensue from ill advised snooping, many people are in danger of dying, and Eggsy finds himself in more trouble than he knows what to do with. Apparently, life can be like a movie sometimes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apartment 6A

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Talianna_ (Talianna)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talianna/gifts).



> AU where Lee Unwin died in a routine Marines tour, Eggsy didn't grow up with a Kingsman medal, and Dean coerced him to continue competing in gymnastics instead of forcing him to quit. But Eggsy is still Eggsy, and Harry is still Harry.

**Prologue**

 

When Eggsy was ten years old, Dean Baker pushed his way into the Unwin’s lives. Michelle was still bereft and struggling with the death of her first husband, she’d become too reliant on self-medicating and less caring about keeping a job for more than a few months. Dean represented everything that Eggsy did not want for his mum, but he was too young to protect her. Eggsy began to spend less time at home and more time at the local community center. He worked out his pain and anger on tumbling mats, above trampolines, and flying between uneven bars and rings. The first time Eggsy brought home a competition trophy, Dean threatened to beat him with it for wasting his time on something seemingly useless, until Eggsy pulled out the cash prize. Dean’s eyes lit up with dollar signs, like a cartoon character. After that, Dean forced Eggsy into every gymnastics competition he possibly could, threatening punishments to him and Michelle if Eggsy didn’t bring home the first place cash prize.  

 

Eight years of grueling workouts, 5 a.m. practices before classes started, four hour practices after school, traveling to competitions across all of Europe — Eggsy was exhausted. As soon as he hit eighteen years old, Eggsy announced that he was quitting gymnastics to join the Marines. Dean threatened Eggsy with countless punishments of hurting him, hurting his mum, turning them out on the streets, and forcing them to make him money in other illegal ways. But Eggsy was determined, because he needed to leave his home and get out from under Dean’s thumb. With the combination of Eggsy’s gymnastics money and Dean’s illegal under the table jobs, his family had enough to sustain themselves and he fervently hoped that Dean was just all talk. It wasn’t until Michelle came to him, the night before he was supposed to leave for basic training, that Eggsy changed his mind. His mum crying and begging, pleading Eggsy to not join the Marines, to not leave her the same way Lee did, sufficiently convinced him to drop out.

 

Subsequently, Eggsy lost his way for a little while. He stopped going to school, stopped competing in gymnastics, spent more time free running than training, and more nights around drugs than ever before. Dean forced Eggsy to make money for him in less moral ways, claiming he wouldn’t allow a freeloader to live under his roof. Eggsy felt broken and alone, unable to make sense of the life he lived completely under the control of his step-father.

 

A few months before his twentieth birthday, Eggsy realized he had a way out if he returned to gymnastics. Despite being coerced into competing for most of his life, he still missed it. Eggsy missed training his body to fly and contort in extraordinary ways, feeling like it was the only thing he could ever control. He missed the way it got him out of the house and away from Dean and his goons. He missed the look of pride on his mum’s face when he came back with the first place prize. For the past two years, Eggsy had only seen Michelle’s face grow more gaunt and sickly.

 

With his mum’s smile at the front of his mind, Eggsy looked into applying for a chance to compete at university levels. He was awarded a TASS scholarship for gymnastics and shipped off to a school outside of London. It was difficult, living far away from his friends and his mum. Eggsy didn’t fit in very well with the rest of the first-years, being both much older and more jaded than them. All of these negative, lonely feelings led to him overtraining and overworking his body far beyond its limits. Eggsy spent more time practicing than sleeping, making the most minimal appearances in class to avoid failing, and sacrificing his social life to be the best gymnast possible. He wasn’t particularly happy, didn’t exactly enjoy his time at university, but he was there on an athletic scholarship and therefore was determined to excel in his sport.

 

Unfortunately, the years of ignoring his health and pushing his body to extremes came back to hurt him. It started with a torn rotator cuff, but as Eggsy tried to recover from that, he developed tendonitis in both shoulders. The harder he worked to overcome his injury, the worse it got, until Eggsy was finally forced to concede defeat and admit it was over. With both shoulders permanently inflamed and in pain, there was no way Eggsy could continue his gymnastics career. So, just weeks before it would’ve been announced that Eggsy was set to join the UK national team, he instead retired and moved back home.

 

The only good thing to come from this depressing time in Eggsy’s life was Michelle’s sudden pregnancy. When Eggsy would have chosen to sleep all day, drink all night, and go back to running in the wrong circles, he instead found a new purpose. Preparing for the arrival of his baby sister became the only thing that mattered to Eggsy. He took Michelle to doctor’s appointments, bought her as much as he possibly could, and helped her get sober so she wasn’t using while pregnant. Dean couldn’t give two shits about his unborn daughter, so Eggsy stepped into the available role. When Daisy Baker was born, with Dean nowhere to be found, Eggsy was already creating a plan to have her last name changed.

 

The only downside to having his new sister home meant that it was one more mouth to feed and one more body to take up space. Despite not wanting any of it in the first place, Dean did the math and quickly decided that Eggsy would have to go. Wanting to avoid having a fight around his mum or sister, Eggsy took the last of his savings and his few possessions and moved to Brixton, alone.

 

* * *

 

**Chapter 1**

 

Eggsy has been living alone in his new studio flat for almost a year now. It’s hard being being in the same city as his mum and sister, but still too far away from his old neighborhood to see them everyday. He’s over halfway done with his Master’s program, attending King’s College London for Addiction Studies and Psychology. Eggsy’s biggest goal is to attain a successful enough career that lets him move his mum and sister away from his step-dad, while also helping his mum defeat her demons, in one fell swoop. Feeling like he’s already let his mum down too many times, Eggsy wants to finally get this one right.

 

Brixton isn’t the best neighborhood, but it’s just a couple train rides away from school, his family, and his favorite pub. His building isn’t the type of place where everybody knows everybody, which Eggsy is used to from the estates, but there’s something extra weird about the flat next door to his. Eggsy will nod at the fellow college student who lives across the hall, trades smiles with the lesbian couple by the elevator, asks old Mrs. Brown if she’s alright when he passes her on the stoop, but those are all normal interactions. What piques his interest is the bald, bespectacled man who appears once every couple of weeks. He shows up early in the morning armed with grocery bags, before the sun has even risen and when most people are still asleep, and lets himself into the flat next door. He spends almost half an hour there, opening and closing what sounds like every cupboard in the apartment, before leaving with a trash bag in hand. Eggsy, who naturally wakes up painfully early after too many years of morning practices before the crack of dawn, watches all of the bald man’s arrivals through the peephole in his front door, insanely curious about the flat he shares his thin walls with.

 

Everything Eggsy thought he knew about his next door not-so-neighbor changes when he is woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of water rushing through pipes. The building he lives in is extremely old and extremely noisy. The floors creak, hinges screech, heaters rattle, but most of all, the running water can be heard in every wall. What Eggsy has never yet heard though, were the pipes in this particular wall of his bedroom, followed by the sound of water hitting a shower floor. The next door washroom apparently shares a wall with his bedroom, and for the first time ever, someone is in there actually taking a shower. Eggsy’s bedside clock displays a glowing _1:37_ , which is much too early for the bald man to have made an appearance, along with the fact that he had just restocked the flat last week.

 

As Eggsy lays in bed listening to the splashing water, he totals up all of his observations. He has only ever seen the one bald man coming and going. That same man never stays longer than half an hour, and has certainly never taken a shower or even slept there, so he must not live there. He only arrives when most people would be asleep and not see him, always bringing new bags and leaving with old ones. Eggsy assumes he must be keeping the place well stocked with food and supplies. Thinking of all the movies he’s watched and all the spy dramas he’s read, the only conclusion that Eggsy can think of is that it might be a safe house that is finally being used for the first time since he’s moved next door. But, he reminds himself, real life isn’t like the movies.  

 

The shower suddenly shuts off, and then a muffled misstep thumps through the wall. A quiet voice can be heard following the sound, and Eggsy strains his ears to pick up what sounds like muted cursing. The voice is definitely male, the quiet timber more easily heard than the specific words he’s speaking, and Eggsy finds himself with an insatiable curiosity to find out who this man is.  

 

Despite it being much too early to wake up, and knowing he’s going to be exhausted in his morning classes, Eggsy still finds himself unable to fall back asleep. His new neighbor isn’t particularly noisy, but the walls are thin enough and his flat is quiet enough that Eggsy picks up his every muffled action. The mystery man finishes up in the washroom and moves to the kitchen. Eggsy hears a stove being turned on and multiple doors being opened and closed. He imagines his neighbor is making tea and possibly a very late supper, and suddenly Eggsy feels a little embarrassed for eavesdropping so intently.

 

When the flat next door finally becomes silent, Eggsy forces himself to nap lightly for a couple hours. He still wakes up early for his morning classes, and leaves as the sun is rising without hearing a peep from his new neighbor. He spends a few demanding hours in class, a few more at his job on campus, and then visits his mum and sister for dinner. Eggsy doesn’t end up going home until close to midnight, after having tea with his mum in place of the drinks they used to share.

 

Eggsy is searching for his keys in his backpack as he rounds the corner in his building’s hallway, not seeing the man in front of him until they run into each other.

 

“Oh—” Eggsy startles, stepping back from a broad set of shoulders to get a better look.

 

His heart suddenly jumps up into his throat as he stares up at the man in front of him. He’s much older and much taller than Eggsy, standing refined in a bespoke suit that looks like it cost more than everything Eggsy has ever owned. The man has beautiful chestnut hair, with a little gray threaded through, that looks as if it’s begging to curl out of its mold. What captivates Eggsy most, though, is this stranger’s kind eyes and the hand he has reached out between them, as if he was going to steady Eggsy.

 

“Apologies,” the man’s voice slides through him like butter, “I didn’t hear you coming.”

 

“No, no, it was my fault,” Eggsy says, “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

 

“No harm done,” the man replies.

 

Eggsy doesn’t realize how long he’s just silently staring at the other until a small smile curls around the corners of his lips. Clearing his throat, Eggsy tears his gaze away for a second, before holding his hand out to shake. “I’m Eggsy, I live right there in 64,” he indicates with a nod of his head.

 

A larger and stronger hand envelopes his own. “Pleasure to meet you Eggsy, I’m Harry and I’m actually staying next door to you,” Harry responds.

 

Eggsy feels starstruck for a moment, meeting his new neighbor who just happens to be the most handsome gentleman he has ever seen. He shakes the thought out of his head to refocus on their conversation.

 

“So, you just moved in?” Eggsy asks.

 

“Oh, no,” Harry says, “Only visiting, I’m afraid.”

 

Eggsy’s brows twitch, wanting to furrow, _Visiting who? No one lives there,_ he wonders internally. Out loud, though, he asks, “For how long?”

 

“I’m not entirely sure, to be honest,” Harry says, “Long enough to help my friend who owns the flat.”

 

Eggsy assumes he must be referring to the mysterious bald man. Desperately wanting to satiate his curiosity, but also not wanting to bother Harry, Eggsy apologizes for holding him up and offers to let him go.

 

Before he bids his goodbye, Eggsy asks, “Maybe you could come over for tea sometime? I’ll fill you in on our neighbors and stuff, if you’d like.”

 

Harry gives him a beautiful smile, “Thank you Eggsy, that’s very kind of you. I’ll let you know if I can.”

 

They wish each other a goodnight and part ways. As Eggsy is fumbling with his keys, he steals a look at Harry’s departing form before he can round the corner and walk out of sight. The first thing he can’t help but notice is the peculiar shape of Harry’s suit jacket around his shoulders and upper back. Growing up around Dean and his gang, Eggsy became hypervigilant to noticing any part of a person that offers a threat to him. Hidden guns are some of the easiest to spot.

 

Eggsy feels frozen in shock and a maybe a little bit of fear. The living situation of the flat next door to his was already confusing enough, but now that Eggsy has met his not-so-neighbor, he isn’t sure what to make of it all.

 

Harry appears to be a wealthy, sophisticated gentleman, but that doesn’t explain why he was heading out in Brixton, after midnight on a weekday, hiding a loaded shoulder holster under his bespoke suit.

 

Beyond his confusion and concern, Eggsy felt overwhelmingly suspicious. He was more determined than ever to figure out what’s up with Harry and apartment 6A.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Happy Christmas Phae!


End file.
